Nazi Germany

A New History

Baker & TaylorA military, social, and political history of the Third Reich argues that Nazism was not the inevitable next step for Germany, but rather that certain factors enabled Hitler to seize power and cause the annihilation of European Jews

McMillan Palgrave

In the 50 years since the fall of the 12-year Nazi Reich, thousands of books have been written on every conceivable aspect of the subject, each with its own axe to grind. Fischer's book, however, tells the story vividly and well, providing the most reliable and balanced history to date.

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Aside from studying the subject in grade 12 and World History in college, I haven't read anything about this period. The author's study is thorough and well grounded. The details are clearly laid out for the reader to digest. His re-telling of events and the people behind what caused them my seem dry, but I was pleased with his attempts to be unbiased in many circumstances. He cites sources appropriately, from which he bases assessments as to what caused chains of events to occur. It reads like more than a textbook, however. He takes us into Germany's descent into Nazism and their quest for Euopean and Soviet domination. Most important, however, is recounting the types of men, Hitler, Himmler, Hessler, Goring and others in the Nazi echelons were. Through these characters, mostly, and how they ran the party, we are left to conclude that National Socialism under Nazi Germany, built upon mistrust of Jews, Gypies, Communists, and their inferior view towards anyone not Aryan, was doomed to failure. This mistrust started at the top, and rivalry between departments was encourages, assuming that the strongest willed would rise to the top. Most of the fault -- though not all of it -- is laid at the feet of Adolf Hitler. His all or nothing view of the world -- Germany will be a great power or it will be noting -- sealed its fate in World War II.

Overall a great read. I kept wanting to find out what would happen next.